


The Right Man

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: Legends [2]
Category: Smallville
Genre: 33.1, Christmas, F/M, Getting Together, Holidays, JLA - Freeform, Lex Luthor Being an Asshole, Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24171781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: When Chloe vanishes for a couple of days and wakes up with no memory of where she's been, she worries about the possibility of being meteor-infected.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Lois Lane, Clark Kent & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: Legends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744465
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

"Arrow? What's your status?" Chloe asked into the communicator, holding her breath as she watched the screen in front of her.

She's been Watchtower for a couple of months now but she still got nervous every time there was a big mission like this and today was especially bad because Bart wasn't with the others, there had been a massive fire in Central City and he was there, helping as much as he could. But they had been planning this particular mission into one of Lex's possible meteor mutant experiment labs for weeks now and because the LuthorCorp Christmas party for all of its employees was happening tonight, so security was down to two men. This was a once in a lifetime, well once in a year opportunity and they couldn't miss out on it.

"Northwest corridor, Watchtower," he responded, his voice disguised by the voice distorter as he moved quickly, keeping to the shadows to avoid the cameras as best he could.

"Do you see anything?" She asked, cocking her head as she watched the dots moving on the screen.

"Not so much," he admitted. "Just a lot of hallways."

"Okay," she pursed her lips together, "the secret room should be coming up on your left."

"Just got to the security room, Tower," Cyborg told her, "let me know when to disable the cameras."

"I will, we don't want to alert anyone yet, but can you erase any footage of any of you being in there for now?" Chloe asked, holding her breath.

"Consider it done." He told her.

"Aquaman, what's your location?" Oliver questioned as he continued to move. 

"Southeast hallway, near the boiler room if the heat is any indication. Damn, it's hot in here," he complained.

"According to what I have, you're right," she told him, smirking a little, "I take it you didn't see anything unexpected on your way in?"

"Like what?" AC asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "I swam in, remember?" 

"Like a shark," Oliver responded, smirking as well. 

"...sharks aren't found in lakes, String Bean," the other man responded. 

"Which is why it would have been unexpected if you had seen one," he returned, rolling his eyes behind the dark glasses he wore.

"I meant once you got out of the water," Chloe clarified, smirking, "although I'm glad you're on opposite ends of the facility. Arrow, anything?"

"Why, because I could kick his ass?" AC teased. 

Oliver scoffed, but ignored the comment. "Still looking, Tower."

"Alright, focus. Both of you." Chloe frowned. "The guards should be two levels above you, Aquaman. Start moving them out and I'll scan the facility for any other unexpected guests."

He couldn't help but smile at the seriousness in her voice. She'd only been playing Watchtower for a couple of months now, and he couldn't help but feel pride swelling in his chest at how _good_ she was at it. Of course, she'd been helping Clark Kent a lot longer, so clearly she'd already had experience in it. Still, he couldn't help but feel proud of her--at how well she handled all of them. They weren't always an easy bunch to wrangle, after all. 

"On it," AC responded, heading for the stairs.

Chloe nodded and took a deep breath, scanning the entire facility as promised, eyes focused on the screen as they all fell silent for a long moment, "I think the three of you are the only ones in there aside from our unconscious friends." 

"So there aren't any victims?" Oliver paused in his tracks, frowning a little at that.

"I don't _see_ anyone," Chloe told him then frowned, "that doesn't mean that he didn't figure out a way to block the heat index scanner from working inside that particular part of the facility."

"Either that or he saw this coming and moved them," Victor added.

"Or the third, more disturbing option," he mumbled, looking around.

"Which is?" Chloe asked, tensing.

"That this whole thing is a trap," he answered, wincing as sirens began to sound.

Chloe held her breath, eyes widening as she stared at the screen, hearing the noise from the communicators, "Cyborg, disable security before the place goes into lock down. Aquaman, go back out through the water. Arrow," she paused, taking a deep breath, "keep going North, I will try to get you out that way to make it faster."

There was a trio of 'on its' without hesitation.

Oliver took off at a dead run in the northern direction, his boots making a lot of noise on the tiled floor.

Nodding, she stood up straight and focused on Oliver. Both Arthur and Victor were both closer to the exits than Oliver so she was going to have to help him the most, "Cyborg, when you're done, get out through the main entrance, I don't see any movement there, but be careful. I will need you to take the car and drive around to pick up Arrow then Aquaman."

"Got it," he answered.

"Arrow," Chloe said, "keep going straight, there shouldn't be any other hallways until you hit a T. You will go left on it."

Oliver rounded the corner as it came to a T like she said it would. There was a long corridor with a lot of rooms in it. He paused in his steps, then moved forward and opened one of the doors, glad when he found it empty. Hopefully all the others would be, too. He was going to have to make sure. "There are a lot of rooms off this corridor, Tower."

"I know," she told him then shook her head, "don't worry about them, keep going, you'll need to get to the end of the hallway and find a window so you can make your way down."

"I need to make sure no one else is here," he told her, stepping out of the room he was in and opening the next door.

"You need to hurry before they _do_ get there." Chloe said tightly.

"We should abort the final part of the mission," Victor suggested, "security disabled, I'm on my way out."

Feeling tense and frustrated, he glanced in the room before moving to the next one, finding it empty as well. He glanced over at the other side of the hall, where the other rooms were.

"Arrow, _get out_ ," Chloe said, eyes widening as three dots suddenly appeared on the screen, "someone is coming."

Oliver heard footsteps from the corridor he'd been in only moments before and he cursed under his breath, heading for the window she'd suggested and wincing as the sound of gunfire made his ears begin to ring.

" _Arrow_!" She gasped, eyes widening as she stared at the screen.

He didn't know how high up the second story window was, and he didn't really think about it considering the alternative. Instead, he dove out and hoped there was something semi-soft to land on down below, because otherwise it was going to _hurt_. He grimaced as he found himself rolling down the side of a hill, through trees and rocks and weeds. He exhaled slowly as he finally stopped, staring up at the treetops above. "Well, that was fun."

"Are you okay?" Chloe breathed into the communicator.

"I think so." He winced a little as he sat up, then rose to his feet, looking toward the building he'd taken the not-so-graceful swan-dive out of and frowning.

"I'm in the car," Victor announced, "where should I head?"

"Around the back of the building, there should be a hill of some kind, and a small forest, drive around it, Arrow is there."

"Is Aquaman with you, Cyborg?" he asked the other man, dusting off his leather vest as best he could.

"No," Chloe answered for him, "he's under water, he will meet you by the other side of the lake on your way back."

Oliver glanced around, spotting the car and moving toward the small dirt road. "All right. I see the car. See you shortly, Watchtower."

"Be careful," she said, sighing softly as she kept her eyes on the monitors in front of her. So close, but apparently Lex had been watching them closely too if he was expecting this to happen, which meant they had to be a lot more careful.

"Will do," he promised before removing the communicator from his ear and shutting it off, sliding it into his utility belt. Then he slid into the passenger seat of the car, giving the other man a look when Victor smirked at him. "Not _one_ word."

"Why not?" Victor smirked, arching his eyebrows, "you're not the boss anymore, obviously."

Oliver rolled his eyes at that. "I keep telling you, I'm not the boss anyway. We're a team." Plus he'd been talking about the fact that his uniform was now covered in dirt from his roll down the hill.

"Yeah, yeah," he shrugged, "might wanna look before you jump next time though, you know, try and land on your feet."

"Or next time I could just stick around and get _shot_ ," he responded.

"You took too long to get out," he said, shrugging and smirking, "should have listened to her."

"I was looking for hostages," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"I know, man, I know." Victor smirked, pulling up by the lake just as AC climbed out of the water.

"You guys all right? It got a little hairy in there," AC said as he slid into the backseat, still dripping with water.

"Yeah, just made it out," Victor told him, starting the car up again, "we need to figure out how they knew."

That, Oliver thought, was a really good question.

* * *

A couple of hours later, AC and Victor had gone to bed but Chloe and Oliver were still there. She kept going over the footage from the facility to try and figure out what had gone wrong but she didn't see any movement or anything that would let them know someone else was there.

"It makes no sense," she sighed, frustrated, "those people came out of nowhere, I had just scanned the facility a few moments before they attacked you."

"It's not your fault, Chloe," he told her, shaking his head and resting a hand on her arm.

"We still need to figure out what happened," she told him, keeping her eyes on the screen.

"And we will," he told her, gently tugging her away from the screen. " _Tomorrow_."

"What?" She frowned, looking at him then back at the screen and at him once again, "are you kicking me out?"

A faint smile tugged at his mouth. "You know what today is, right?"

Chloe stared blankly at him and arched an eyebrow.

Oliver paused. "It's after Midnight. It's...officially Christmas day."

"Oh," she breathed, nodding, "right, that. I thought I had forgotten your birthday or something."

He smiled at that, shaking his head. "No, nothing like that."

"I don't have to be in Smallville until four or so," she told him, glancing at the computers again then at him once more, "what are you doing?"

"Nothing," he told her, shrugging a little. "Figured I'd pretend I cared about the game and watch it or...let it watch me as I pass out in front of the TV after a nice TV dinner."

Chloe frowned at that, "well, you're coming with me, then." She said. It wasn't a question.

Oliver blinked, raising his eyebrows. "Uh, it's a family thing isn't it?" he asked, confused.

"I'm not exactly family," she pointed out, "or Lois. Besides, with Mr. Kent gone, Mrs. Kent seems to want as many people there as possible, it's their first Christmas without him and after everything that happened with Clark..."

"No, but you're pretty close. And they don't really know _me_ that well." He shook his head.

"You were helping us when everything happened, you were helping _me_ " she reminded him, "and I don't plan on letting you stay here by yourself and have a TV dinner on Christmas." 

Oliver's expression softened a little at that. "I uh...I have a gift for you." He offered her a smile and then headed toward the hallway.

Chloe blinked and stared after him, her eyes widening slightly. He had a Christmas present? For _her_? And she hadn't gotten him anything, more importantly, she had no idea _what_ to get a billionaire.

He returned a few moments later, carrying a brick-sized package in his hands. "Here you go."

She stared at him for a moment then took the offered package but didn't open it, "does that mean you're coming with me?"

"You're not giving up on that one, are you?" There was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"No," she said sincerely, smiling up at him and arching her eyebrows.

He couldn't help but grin at the expression on her face. "You're pretty used to people giving in to you aren't you?"

"Not at all," she grinned, "but I'm glad it worked on you."

Oliver shook his head with amusement. "Open your gift," he told her, moving to sit down.

She took a deep breath and sat down too, but not too close to him then opened the package, smiling when she realized it was coffee, amazing, extra strong, Brazilian coffee. "Coffee," she grinned, "thank y--" she began when a piece of paper started to slip from the wrapping, "one year supply?" Her eyes widened and she looked over at him, "wow, thank you!"

He grinned at the sight of _that_ smile. "You are very welcome."

"Best gift I can think of," she said sincerely, smiling down at the package.

He watched her for a long moment. "Merry Christmas," he said softly.

"Thank you," she said again, looking over at him then hesitating before pulling him into a hug, "Merry Christmas."

He hugged her back without hesitation, smiling softly.

A long moment later, she pulled back and looked up at him, "I'll let you rest, then and I'll come by around one to pick you up."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Why don't you just crash here?"

Chloe held her breath for a moment, she'd been kind of hoping he'd offer since it was four in the morning and she was exhausted. "Oh, if you don't mind..."

"Not at all. You're always welcome here, Chloe." His voice was quiet as he gazed at her.

"Thank you," she said sincerely then smiled, "this will make it easier to make sure you don't try to get away anyway."

Oliver's eyes widened in fake shock. "I would _never_."

She laughed softly and grinned, arching her eyebrows, "I could take your word for it, but now I won't have to."

He grinned back at her, rising to his feet and holding his hand out to her. "Well, I have _several_ rooms you can choose from."

Chloe took his hand and her coffee, placing it next to her purse on the coffee table before following him, "okay, are you going to give me a tour?"

"Absolutely, though as often as you've been here, I can't believe I was rude enough not to before now," he told her, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, most of the times I've been here before we were working, so you're excused," she teased.

"Oh, good." He smiled at that, glancing at her sideways and giving her hand a light squeeze as he led her down the hallway. "To the right and the left--guest rooms."

She grinned softly at him and nodded slightly, looking between the two, "are they the same?"

"Of course not." He grinned, leading her farther down the hall. "Bathroom on the left, another guest room on the right."

Arching her eyebrows, she looked down the hall, "this place is a lot bigger than it looks, how many guest rooms do you have?"

"Four," he told her with a wink. "Next on the left, last guest room. And on the right, my bedroom," he told her, turning to face her even though he didn't let go of her hand.

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip and looked at the last guest room then up at him, "which one do the boys occupy the least?"

"The one across from me," he admitted.

She had the feeling that was going to be his answer, pursing her lips together, she looked up at him for a moment. Her heart was beating fast against her chest but she was ignoring it. There was no reason for her to be nervous. She was just... standing between five bedrooms with one of the nation's most eligible bachelors, who was a massive flirt and who she'd been steadily developing a crush on. And then she'd apparently started having not so family-friendly dreams about him.

And now she was just staring, "hm, do you mind if I take that one?" 

Oliver met her eyes, feeling something shift between them, his eyes narrowing a little. "Not at all," he told her.

Holding her breath, she nodded a little, completely aware of the fact that his hand was still wrapped around hers, "I should let you go to bed, then."

"Likewise," he murmured. "If you need anything, I'll be right across the hall."

"Thank you," she said, not moving still.

He held his breath for a moment, searching her eyes and wondering what exactly was going through her mind right then. He was fairly certain he would've traded his entire fortune to know for sure. "Goodnight, Chloe."

"Night, Oliver," she told him, her voice barely above a whisper as she pulled her hand from his and turned around, making her way into the offered guest room without another glance.


	2. Chapter 2

Oliver Queen did not _do_ big family holidays.

He couldn't even recall the last time he'd celebrated Christmas, and he wasn't entirely sure how she'd managed to talk him into coming along with her to the Kents' family Christmas dinner.

Oh, wait. She'd simply turned her big green eyes on him and _asked_. Green Arrow, helpless to resist the pretty blond who'd begun working with them. It was ironic, really.

Casting her a sideways glance as he rang the doorbell, he shifted the bag of presents from one hand to the other and waited for someone to answer the door. He just hoped that Mrs. Kent and Clark were as welcoming about his presence as Chloe was.

"You'll be fine," she assured him, even though he rang the bell, she pulled the screen door then pushed the other one open, "Mrs. Kent?" She called.

Clark was already on his way to the door, he'd heard Chloe's car driving up. And then he heard her talking to someone else, "come in," he called curiously, even though he could have just x-rayed the door, he preferred not to.

Oliver drew in a breath and followed her inside, glancing around and smiling a bit at the cozy decor. "Hope you don't mind a tag-along," he said to Clark as the man greeted them halfway between the living room and the kitchen.

Raising his eyebrows, he looked from Oliver to Chloe questioningly but shook his head, smiling, "of course not, Mom always makes five times the amount of food we need."

"We brought presents," Chloe announced, pointing at the bags Oliver had insisted on carrying.

"I'll show you where to put them," Clark told Oliver then turned to Chloe, "Lois is terrorizing mom in the kitchen."

She grinned at that and nodded, hugging Clark, "I'll go help her."

Oliver chuckled a little at the exchange, then looked at Clark with raised eyebrows. "You have a nice home," he told him with a smile.

Clark nodded a little and started toward the living room, "thanks," he said, pointing at the tree, "I'll help you unload these here."

Nodding, he let Clark take the bag from him, stating to say something else when he heard a loud exclamation from the kitchen.

"OLIVER QUEEN is HERE!?"

Clark winced and looked toward the kitchen, "have you, hm, met Chloe's cousin?"

Oliver looked toward the kitchen, as well, his eyes wide. "...not formally, no."

"You will soon," he told Oliver, sighing softly, "and I apologize in advance."

He raised his eyebrows at that even as a pretty brunette rushed into the room, staring at him. He offered her a small, uncertain smile. "Hi?"

"Lois!" Chloe said, starting after her cousin then pausing, arching her eyebrows at Oliver.

Shaking his head, Clark started pulling gifts from one of the bags and starting to arrange them under the tree.

"How did you get him to show up here?" Lois whispered to Chloe, except it was loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Oliver smirked a little. "She asked."

Chloe smiled apologetically at Olive then looked at her cousin again, "we're... friends. He helped me during Dark Thursday, remember?"

"Right." Lois eyed him curiously. "I figured you'd be back doing the playboy bachelor thing in Star City by now."

He winced inwardly at that. "I'm actually sticking around for awhile to make sure things here get rebuilt and taken care of," he explained.

"And he wasn't planning on doing much tonight so I invited him," Chloe said, grabbing her cousin's hand and tugging her toward the kitchen, "come on, Mrs. Kent needs help."

Oliver shot Chloe a grateful look as she dragged Lois back away from them. He glanced at Clark. "They're not _really_ related, are they?"

Clark chuckled, "they really are cousins, I think their moms were sisters," he told Oliver, "Lois works for my mom and she moved in here, she's always around now."

"So is she always that high strung?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah," Clark shrugged a little, "Chloe was more like that when we were in High School, but she got better."

Oliver blinked a couple of times. "Really? I can't really picture Chloe being...anything like that."

"I guess you don't know her very well," Clark shrugged, pulling more presents from the bags and stacking them under the tree.

He narrowed his eyes at the off-the-hand remark. "I plan to change that," he responded, heading for the kitchen.

Clark turned to look at Oliver at that and frowned, staring at the other man then staring to the door when someone else knocked.

Still bothered by the remark, Oliver made his way into the kitchen, forcing himself to smile as he looked around. "Everything smells wonderful," he told Mrs. Kent.

"Oliver," she greeted, smiling up at him, "I'm glad Chloe invited you, she told me how much you've done to help and everything you were doing for Metropolis after the black out."

Chloe smiled up at him, her eyes bright as she nodded a little but didn't move from Lois' side just in case she had to stomp on her foot to make her shut up or something.

He met Chloe's eyes, his own bright as he turned to look at the senator. "Someone has to try and make the world a better place. Of course, I know _you_ know that, Senator."

Lois raised an eyebrow. "He _sounds_ sincere."

Lois' comment earned a look from both Chloe and Martha, but the older woman nodded at him, "if we all do our part, we can make a difference."

Oliver paused, looking from Mrs. Kent to Lois. "Have I done something to personally offend you in some way, Miss Lane?"

Chloe sighed and shook her head, "Lois' rude comments are just faster than her brain, don't listen to her, Oliver."

"Hey." Lois frowned, glancing at her cousin sideways. "What happened to chicks before--" She cut herself off before casting a sheepish look at Martha. "Anyway, I'm just gonna go back to tossing that salad now." She turned and headed for the counter.

Wincing, Chloe nodded a little at Mrs. Kent then looked over at Oliver, mouthing 'sorry'.

He offered her an amused smile, raising his eyebrows. "Is there anything I can do to help out, Senator Kent?"

Chloe relaxed a little and smiled at him then started to turn back to peeling potatoes when she heard footsteps.

"Look who is here!" Clark announced, entering the kitchen with an arm around the shoulders of his newest guest.

Oliver turned to see who it was, his eyes narrowing when he spotted Lana Lang at Clark's side, his body tensing immediately.

Chloe's face fell instantly as she stared at Lana, her jaw clenching slightly.

"Hi Mrs. Kent," Lana greeted with a smile.

Martha didn't miss the reactions on Lois', Chloe's and Oliver's faces but offered Lana a small smile, "Lana, will you be joining us for dinner?"

"Hell _no_ ," Lois bit out, glaring at the dark-haired woman.

Oliver shifted closer to Chloe, glancing at her sideways, tensing more at her crestfallen expression.

"Lois," Chloe said, holding her breath and glancing at Oliver.

"I don't think I'm welcomed here, unfortunately, Mrs. Kent." Lana said, eyes falling on Chloe.

"Of course you are!" Clark frowned, looking at Lois, "what's the matter with you?"

Martha frowned and looked between all five of them, "okay, what is happening here?"

"That bitch blamed Chloe when you _died_ ," Lois said angrily, taking a few steps toward her, her eyes narrowed. If looks could have killed, Lana would be a puddle like the Wicked Witch after Dorothy threw water on her. "She told her it was her fault that you were gone, and then she _hit_ her!"

Mrs. Kent stepped forward and grabbed Lois' arm, "there will be no violence in my kitchen," she told her.

"Lana would never do that," Clark defended, frowning.

Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, her jaw tight, "she did, Clark. She slapped me. After your funeral."

"No offense, but I'm not sure you know Miss Lang quite as well as you think you do," Oliver informed Clark. "Because that's _exactly_ what happened."

"What about violence in your yard?" Lois asked, still glaring at Lana.

" _Lois_ ," Martha warned then turned to Lana, "I suppose it would be better if you came by to see Clark later, Lana."

Lana's eyes narrowed at that but she nodded, replacing the glare with a fake smile and nodding, "I understand. Merry Christmas Mrs. Kent." She told the woman before turning around and starting back toward the front door.

Clark stared at all four of them then frowned, shaking his head, "Lana, wait." He said, following after her.

"Are you _kidding_ me? After that and he's still going to chase after her?" There was disbelief in Lois' voice.

"Lois, please," Mrs. Kent said, looking over at her and sighing.

"He can't help it," Chloe said blankly then took a deep breath, "let it go, Lo."

"Yes, he _can_ help it. Or he will once I find one of those little green rocks," she grumbled, the last part barely audible to anyone but her.

Oliver gazed at Chloe, worried at the blank expression on her face.

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head, turning back to the counter and going back to the potatoes silently.

Not entirely sure what to do, he moved to stand beside her, reaching out and resting a hand on her arm wordlessly.

She held her breath and looked over at him, pursing her lips together.

"Chloe, why don't you go show Oliver the rest of the farm before it starts snowing again? A walk will be good for you and Lois can help me finish up." Martha suggested.

"No, Mrs. Kent, I'm fine." Chloe blinked, swallowing hard then turning to look at the older woman.

"Go," Martha said quietly and nodded at her.

"Plus I've never been to a farm before. I should probably check it out with an experienced tour guide." Oliver offered her a small smile.

Chloe sighed softly and nodded a little then glanced at Oliver, nodding slightly and grabbing her coat before making her way toward the back door.

He followed her without hesitation, glad he hadn't even bothered taking his own jacket off yet, and headed out the back door behind her.

She buttoned up her coat as they stepped outside and took a deep breath. It had gotten progressively colder since that morning but the temperature seemed to have dropped even more now that the sun was almost gone, "we can just go back inside, it's really cold."

He moved closer to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to his side. "Are you all right?"

With another deep breath, she nodded a little and wrapped an arm around him, "she knew I was here, she did it on purpose."

"I have no doubt about that," he responded. "Has she always been that much of a bitch?"

Pursing her lips together, Chloe shook her head then started to walk with him toward the barn, "I think Lex's influence isn't helping."

"People can only be influenced so much, Chloe." His voice was quiet. "At some point they have to be accountable for their own actions." And now he wasn't just talking about _Lana_.

Nodding slightly, she shrugged a little, "he will never see it that way, so there isn't much of a point even having this conversation with him."

He paused at that, stilling her, as well. "Well, he's wrong."

Chloe blinked and looked up at him, holding her breath a little.

Oliver gazed at her intently. "Seriously." He reached up and tucked some hair behind her ear.

"I know," she said quietly, leaning into his touch slightly, "but when it comes to her, he can't see anything else."

He searched her eyes. "Just as long as you know he's the one who's messing up and missing out here," he said just as quietly.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little and looked up at him for a long moment, "it's not like that anymore," not really.

"No?" he murmured, not taking his eyes off her.

Shaking her head slightly and with a lump on her throat, she held her breath and stared up at him.

"Good," he whispered, dipping his head a little and pressing a soft kiss to her mouth.

Her eyes widened and she stilled, her cheek and chest suddenly felt extremely warm despite the fact that it was something like five degrees outside. She pulled her head back and stared up at him, heart beating fast against her chest, "what was that for?"

Oliver held his breath as she pulled away, wondering if he'd misread her. "I'm sorry," he said uncertainly. "Was that not...okay?"

She swallowed hard and blinked a few times, suddenly feeling disoriented, "I--" pursing her lips together she looked away, "you don't have to do that just because of Clark and Lana."

His eyes widened a little at that, and he quickly tucked his hand beneath her chin, making her look at him once more. "That had _nothing_ to do with Clark and Lana. That was me wanting to kiss you. Just so we're clear."

Her heart skipped a beat and she let her breath out slowly as she stared up at him once more.

"I think you're pretty amazing," he told her honestly. "You're beautiful and smart and loyal and I like spending time with you."

Her mouth was suddenly dry and she wanted to tell him she liked spending time with him too and that she also thought he was amazing but then her eyes were drawn to his lips once more and next thing she knew, she was tip-toeing and pressing her lips softly against his again.

It took his brain only a few seconds to catch up with the rest of him, and then he slid his arms around her, tugging her closer to him, and cupping her cheek in his hand as they kissed.

Chloe wrapped her arms around him, holding on to him as she kissed him back. Her heart was beating so fast, she was sure it was going to jump right off her chest, but she didn't care at the moment.

He felt the spark between them all the way down to his toes and he shuddered a little as they broke apart a moment later, a dazed expression on his face.

She felt it too, she had no idea what it was, but she felt _something_. It was incredible and intense and as she pulled away slightly to look at him, her expression was mirroring his, her eyes wide.

"Wow," he whispered, staring back at her intently. "That was..."

"You felt it too?" She breathed, staring back at him.

He nodded silently, searching her eyes.

"Oh." She said quietly, pausing then smiling just a little.

Oliver relaxed a little when she smiled at him, and he returned it easily, reaching out and holding his hand out to her.

Chloe looked down at his hand then slid hers into it, linking her fingers with his as she smiled more up at him.

He grinned at her, squeezing her hand lightly. He was fairly certain this was turning out to be the best Christmas he'd had in a very long time.


	3. Chapter 3

Christmas had been... surprisingly good. Chloe and Oliver had ended up staying out at the barn for a while longer, they didn't even realize it had started snowing until they eventually decided to make their way back to the house since they were both cold and hungry. Once they were back inside, however, she almost wished they would have stayed out there. She didn't really feel comfortable holding his hand or hugging him or making it clear that they were more than friends out of respect for Mrs. Kent, but at the same time, she was finding it incredibly hard not to touch him.

But things were more than a little different during dinner than the previous interaction. Mrs. Kent had obviously spoken with Clark about Lana because he was on his best behavior and Lois was suspiciously quiet, like she was about to explode from trying not to ask Chloe whatever she wanted to ask or say whatever she obviously wanted to say if the wide eyed looks her cousin kept giving her were anything to go by.

The fact that Oliver was sitting right next to her, however, made it a lot harder to pay attention to Lois' curiosity. She kept staring at him and they kept exchanging smiles, her cheeks felt warm every time her gaze met his, and it was absolutely ridiculous. A subdued version of that same sparkle she had felt when they kissed kept running through her every time their hands accidentally touched as they were passing each other the bread or the salt and that was why it was so hard to pay attention to her surroundings at the moment.

"Dinner was amazing, thank you Mrs. Kent," she managed to focus long enough to say, finally.

"Thank you," Martha said sincerely, "it was a pleasure to have all you kids here," she said, glancing at each of them then focusing on her son.

Clark swallowed hard and nodded slightly, smiling at his mom. He didn't want to think about what her Christmas would have been like if he hadn't been brought back.

Oliver's left hand was resting on his lap and without looking over at her, or even at anyone else, he reached out and slid his fingers through Chloe's, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. "I really appreciate you being so gracious in hosting an unexpected guest," he said sincerely, glancing at Mrs. Kent.

"Wouldn't have been anywhere else," Lois told her, eyeing Oliver and then Chloe with suspicion.

Chloe held her breath and nearly gasped but managed to look down at her plate instead to compose herself for a moment.

"I'm glad Chloe brought you over, it was nice to meet you," Martha told Oliver.

"I'll clear the table," Clark offered, picking up his and Lois' plates as he stood up, frowning when he realized Chloe was blushing, "are you okay?"

"It was nice to meet you, too, Senator," Oliver said with a soft smile, glancing up at Clark.

Chloe blinked when she realized Clark was talking to her and looked up at him, giving him her best smile, "yeah, I'm fine, why?"

He frowned a little more at that then shrugged, "you are blushing."

Lois narrowed her eyes at Chloe, glancing from her to Oliver and back again. "Yes, she is."

She held her breath and squeezed Oliver's hand slightly before letting go of it, "I'm just kind of warm, what is with you two?"

"You're acting _weird_ ," Lois asserted, giving her a look.

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Actually I'm kind of warm in here, too," he said with a shrug.

"Why don't we move to the living room so everyone is more comfortable?" Mrs. Kent suggested even though she had the hint of a knowing smile on her lips.

"I think that's a good idea," Chloe said, then arched her eyebrows at Lois, "I'm not acting weird."

Lois looked at her skeptically, but rose to her feet. "If you say so." She headed toward the living room.

Oliver suppressed a small smile, well-aware that Mrs. Kent was onto them, even if no one else was.

Martha wrapped an arm over Lois' shoulders and headed to the living room with her.

Chloe took a deep breath and reached for her water then glanced at Oliver, smiling a little then standing up too.

He winked at her as he rose to his feet, as well, then glancing toward the kitchen where Clark had taken an armload of dishes toward the sink.

"I got it," Clark called when he saw Oliver looking at him.

"C'mon," Chloe said, nudging Oliver's arm with her own then starting to the living room, "we probably won't be able to stay much longer since we need to drive back to Metropolis," she announced, taking a seat next to her cousin and leave plenty of space for Oliver on her other side.

Nodding a little, Oliver made his way over to sit down beside her, a soft smile on his face.

Martha frowned slightly, "are you sure you want to drive back? It's been snowing steadily for the past few hours, I don't know what condition the roads will be in."

"We can try it, but if it seems too bad, we'll come back," Oliver told her with a small smile.

"I'm sure it won't be a problem," Chloe said, "but like Oliver said, we can always come back if it looks bad."

Lois eyed her cousin suspiciously and frowned a little. "Well, you should bunk with me tonight anyway. It's Christmas."

Chloe turned to look at her cousin, sincerely surprised about the request and even feeling bad about her response, "Oh, Lo. I didn't realize that was the plan, I drove Oliver here."

Oliver hesitated a moment. "If you want to stay here, it's fine," he spoke up, glancing at Chloe, not wanting to be the cause of any conflict for her or her cousin. "I could always have Bart pick me up."

She paused and looked over at him then shook her head slightly, "we'll figure it out." 

He gazed at her, meeting her eyes for a moment and nodding.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe shifted between the two of them. She felt bad leaving her cousin considering they always spent Christmas together but at the same time, she felt bad letting Oliver leave on his own.

Martha watched the three of them quietly for a moment, "would anybody like some cider?"

"That'd be great, Mrs. K. I'll help you out with that," Lois volunteered, rising to her feet and heading for the kitchen.

Martha nodded and stood up too, smiling at Lois, "thank you."

Chloe pursed her lips together and watched her cousin as both women left the living room, she was pretty sure Lois was not happy with her at all.

Oliver watched them go, then look at Chloe. "Seriously. It's fine," he said softly.

She looked over at him and nodded a little, "I know," she breathed, "but Lois has been staying here and I don't wanna be here when Lana shows up again."

He was quiet for a moment. "What if you invited Lois to come to Metropolis with you for the night?"

Chloe looked at him then nodded a little, taking a deep breath, "I guess that's an option."

"I just don't want her to be upset with you because of me," he said honestly. Especially considering she seemed to dislike him already.

Her face softened at that and she hesitated then reached for his hand, "I won't let her be."

Oliver curled his fingers around hers, lifting them to his lips and kissing her knuckles lightly.

Her heart skipped a beat and she held her breath, staring at him for a moment, "I should go talk to her."

"All right," he said with a slight nod, letting go of her hand.

She took a deep breath and looked at him for a moment before standing up and walking over to the kitchen, "Lo?" She called.

"Yeah?" Lois turned to look at her cousin from where she was pouring cider into mugs.

"Can I talk to you?" She asked, not bothering with pretenses.

Raising an eyebrow, she glanced over at Clark, then back at Chloe. "Sure."

Clark, who had been doing the dishes, paused too and looked over at Chloe, arching his eyebrows.

Chloe just smiled at him then back at Lois and started to the front room, she knew Clark would probably listen to the whole conversation so she would make sure to say as little as possible.

Lois followed her, raising her other eyebrow, as well and waiting expectantly for her cousin to tell her what was going on.

She pursed her lips together and looked up at her, stepping closer, "I don't really wanna stay here tonight. If you want to come back to Metropolis with us, that's fine but... Lana will undoubtedly stop by soon and I rather not deal with that."

Her expression softened immediately at that and Lois hugged her. "I didn't even think about it," she admitted guiltily.

"I know," she told her quietly, wrapping her arms around her cousin, "that's okay, Lo."

"I don't mind coming to Metropolis unless you have other plans." A faint smirk touched her mouth. "But if you do, that's fine. But you'll owe me details later."

"I _don't_ have other plans," she said, arching her eyebrows even as she blushed.

"Maybe you _should_ have. I mean for a minute earlier I thought the two of you were going to go at it right there in the yard," Lois teased, keeping her voice very quiet so Oliver didn't overhear anything.

Chloe's eyes widened at that and she stared at Lois, "what are you talking about?"

She smirked as she pulled away. "I think you know exactly what I"m talking about."

"You _saw_?" Chloe whispered, staring at Lois.

"I was looking out the window!"

"Did Mrs. Kent see?" She gasped, eyes even wider now.

Lois rolled her eyes. "No."

"Good," Chloe breathed, "I hadn't... that was the first time we kissed, I didn't even know it was a possibility." She whispered.

She frowned at that. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "because he's _Oliver Queen_ and he can literally have anyone he wants?""

"Well, from the way it looked, it's pretty clear that would be you." Lois smiled brightly, raising her eyebrows.

With a deep breath, she smiled a little and shrugged, looking down then back at her cousin, "I guess we'll see."

She narrowed her eyes at Chloe. "Maybe I should have a talk with him."

"Lois, no." Chloe said firmly, "he's a good guy, and he already thinks you hate him."

Lois glanced over to where said guy was sitting on the sofa, staring at the Christmas tree, pursing her lips. "If it gets serious, he gets my 'Hurt my cousin and I'll kill you' speech.'"

"If," Chloe agreed with a nod, "besides, it's Christmas and he has no family, apparently so... go easy on him." She said quietly, looking over at Oliver too.

She frowned at that, then sighed softly. "Fine. I'll play nice. Because it's _Christmas_."

"Thank you," she told her cousin, looking back at her and smiling a little.

Shaking her head, she gave her a look, and moved back toward the kitchen.

Chloe smirked a little and made her way back to the living room, pausing and watching Oliver. He seemed completely lost in thought as he stared at the Christmas tree. After a moment, she walked around the couch and took the seat next to him, "are you okay?"

He blinked a few times, then looked up at her, offering her a small smile. "Yeah. Are you?"

"Yeah," she told him, "she's coming back to Metropolis with us." Pursing her lips together, she paused, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Positive," he assured her, nodding a little. "Just...been a long time since I've celebrated the holiday."

Her chest tightened a little at that, "yeah?" She asked quietly, "hopefully it wasn't too bad?"

"No. I mean, I definitely could've done without Lana Lang showing up, but I'm sure you could have, too."

"Yeah..." she admitted then smiled, "but it turned out okay."

Oliver smiled back at her, his eyes brightening. "Yeah. I think it did, too."

She glanced toward the kitchen where she could hear all three voices coming from then looked back at Oliver and smiled a little more before leaning in and kissing him softly.

He lifted a hand to her cheek, returning the kiss without hesitation.

Even though she didn't want to, she forced herself to pull back and take a deep breath. Everything that came with kissing him was... mind-blowing and amazing and she couldn't let herself get carried away in the middle of the Kents' living room.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before letting his hand fall to his lap. He could hardly wait to get back to Metropolis.


	4. Chapter 4

Two days after Christmas, when he hadn't heard from Chloe and she hadn't returned his calls, Oliver made his way over to her Met U dorm room and knocked on the door, frowning slightly when he received no answer. He knew classes were out until sometime mid-January, and according to the receptionist at the Planet, Chloe was off for two more days. He supposed she could be somewhere with Lois or Clark, but it wasn't like her not to call him back. Especially since things had definitely changed between them. He nodded at one of her dorm-mates, who stared at him with wide eyes as she backed into her room, but he didn't give her a second thought as he pulled his phone out once more and dialed her number again. He debated whether or not to leave her another voicemail, but he didn't really want to come off looking like some stalker boyfriend, so he hung up.

It didn't, however, ease his worry. Drawing in a breath, he dialed Clark's number and waited.

After a couple of rings, Clark picked up, "hello?" He asked, not recognizing the number.

"Hey, Clark, it's Oliver," he said, leaning against the wall.

"Oh," he frowned, "hi. Is something wrong?"

"I hope not. Is Chloe with you, by chance?"

"No..." he said, "I haven't spoken to her since Christmas, why?"

His frown deepened. "Neither have I, and she's not returning my calls. I'm getting a little worried."

"Did you talk to Lois?" Clark frowned, "she's probably with her."

Oliver had really been hoping he wouldn't have to make that particular call. "No, not yet. She's my next call."

"I'm sure they are together," Clark shrugged, "you should call her."

"Yeah, I will. If you happen to see or talk to Chloe, though, would you have her call me?"

"Sure," Clark said, "but I'm sure there isn't a problem."

"Let's hope not," Oliver responded. "But it's not like her not to return calls."

"If she's busy with a story, it could be," Clark told him.

"She's actually off this week," he answered.

"Oh," Clark paused at that, "well, have you checked her dorm?"

"That's where I am right now," Oliver admitted.

And now Clark was finally worried, "I'll check the Talon apartment and the Planet, she has to be somewhere."

"All right. Let me know if you find her, and I'll do the same," he told the other man, glad that Clark finally understood why he was worried. "I'll give Lois a call and see if she knows anything."

"I will," he told Oliver before hanging up.

Oliver hung up, as well, grimacing a little as he dialed Lois' number and waiting for her to pick up.

"Lane," Lois barked into the receiver a moment later.

"Lois, it's Oliver Queen," he said without hesitating.

There was a long moment of silence then she frowned, "okay?"

"I'm calling because I'm trying to reach Chloe and I can't seem to find her. She wouldn't happen to be with you, would she?"

"No..." Lois frowned, "last time I saw her was yesterday morning, she was going to the library to work ahead on some of her classes. Is she not answering her phone?"

"No," he murmured, his stomach tightening. "I've left her a couple messages, and she hasn't returned my calls. She's not at her dorm, either."

Lois stood up from the chair she'd been sitting on while waiting for Mrs. Kent to give her her next task. "I'll go by the campus and check the library, she might not have heard her phone if she's there."

"I'm already on the campus, so I'll head that way now. Clark's going to check the Talon apartment and the Planet," he told her, heading down the hallway.

"Okay." Lois said, "I'm downtown so I'll talk to Mrs. Kent and come meet you at the campus, I have a key to her dorm."

"All right. I'll meet you at her room after I get done checking the library." He drew in a breath and hung up the telephone.

* * *

Oliver returned to the dorm less than a half-hour later, looking even more worried than before. Chloe's bookbag was clutched in one of his hands, his heart beating quickly in his chest. He may not have known her as long or as well as Clark, but he knew she wasn't the type of person to just forget her bag. Especially not one that had her laptop in it. He pushed on the partially open dorm room door and paused, surprised to see Chloe and Lois sitting on one of the beds in the room.

"Chloe." Lois nudged her cousin, her eyes wide, she glanced at Oliver, "I just got here."

Chloe shifted on the bed and grunted a little as she opened her eyes slowly, "Lo?"

Oliver hesitated in the doorway for a moment, then stepped inside. "Chloe? Are you feeling okay?"

She blinked and turned her head toward the door, eyes widening a little when she saw him, "Oliver?" She frowned and sat up, her head was hurting but that wasn't unusual, "I'm okay, what's going on?"

He shot a worried look at Lois. "We've been looking for you," he said gently, setting her bag down on the floor. "You haven't been answering your calls and none of us could find you."

"What?" She frowned, shaking her head, "I was at the library, did I lose my phone?"

"That's where you said you were going yesterday morning when I left, were you there for almost two whole days?" Lois asked.

"No." Chloe frowned, "I... don't think I was? I don't remember getting back."

"I went to the library," he told her, sitting down hesitantly on the edge of her bed. "I found your bag."

She looked down at the bag, it was definitely hers then frowned, confused as she took her head, "I wouldn't leave that behind."

"Do you think maybe you got so tired you zombie-walked back and didn't realize?" Lois tried.

Oliver looked from Lois to Chloe, then shook his head. "What's the last thing you remember?" he asked gently, gazing at her.

"Just... being at the library, studying." She told him, turning to look at him.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. "All right, we'll figure this out." He pulled out his phone and dialed Clark's number.

Clark answered the phone a moment later, not bothering with hello, "did you find her?"

"She's at the dorm, but you should come here because something's not right."

With a strong wind, Clark showed up into the dorm a moment later, his eyes wide, "what's wrong?"

"I don't know," Chloe told him, not even blinking at his entrance, "I just woke up and the last thing I remember was being at the library."

"That was yesterday," Oliver added.

Lois pursed her lips. "Do you _feel_ okay?"

"My head kind of hurts but... yeah. I feel fine otherwise," she told Lois then looked back at Oliver, "and I haven't been answering my phone at all?"

"Not for nearly two days," he said quietly, his eyes filled with worry.

She rubbed her hand over her face and shook her head, "I don't remember anything."

"We'll figure it out," Clark said, stepping forward and watching her worriedly.

"I think the first thing we should do is take her to the hospital or a doctor," Oliver said seriously. "And I'll call Vic, and he and I can go through the security feed from the library cameras."

"I feel fine," Chloe protested, sitting up a little more.

"You should still see someone to make sure," Clark said, "I can talk to Victor and I'll search the campus."

"We're just worried, Chloe," Oliver said softly, shaking his head.

"They're right, Chlo. Come on, I'll go with you," Lois offered.

Chloe pursed her lips together as she looked between their three worried faces then sighed softly as she turned back to her cousin, "I'm not staying there."

She made a face. "Of course not. Just a quick check up." She wrapped her arm around Chloe.

"I can walk," Chloe assured her as she stood up then bit down on her bottom lip and looked at the boys, "let me know if you find anything?"

"We'll call." Clark nodded.

Oliver met her eyes, nodding slightly, as well. "We'll talk to you soon."

She held Oliver's gaze and nodded, holding her breath as she reluctantly reached for her purse then nodded at her cousin, "let's go."

He wanted to reach out and hug her, but considering they hadn't really discussed what it was they were doing, or how to define it, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable in front of her best friend and her cousin.

Chloe wanted to do the same but next thing she knew, Lois was pulling her out of the dorm.

"I'll go check out the library," Clark announced, then vanished.

Oliver watched them go, then dialed Victor's number. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

* * *

Talking to the doctor hadn't done a whole lot of good. Apparently he had a problem believing that Chloe had been at the library, studying and working ahead while the school was on holiday break and seemed to be under the impression that she was pretending not to have any memory of the previous night because she had gotten drunk or high or something since he found absolutely nothing wrong with her.

"Waste of time," Chloe muttered to her cousin as they got back on Lois' car.

"At least we know you're okay," Lois pointed out, shaking her head as she slid the key into the ignition. "You should call Oliver and let him know."

"Actually, I texted him while you were yelling at the doctor," Chloe told her, "would you mind dropping me off at the Clocktower?"

A tiny smile touched her mouth at that. "Oh. Yeah, I can do that."

Chloe arched her eyebrows at the look on Lois' face, "I want to know what they found out? Since they were going to research?"

"I'm sure it's completely innocent," Lois responded, raising her eyebrows, as well.

"It _is_ ," she said, then pursed her lips together, "besides, I feel bad that I had three missed calls from him and two voicemails in which he sounded pretty upset about my lack of communication."

"I'm sure he was just worried, Chlo. I mean, he was worried when he called _me_." She shrugged and focused on driving toward the clock tower.

"I just don't want him to think I'm avoiding him or something," she told Lois, glancing at her out of the corner of her eyes.

"Pretty sure he doesn't think that, especially considering he knows you weren't in contact with me or Clark either."

"I just wanna make sure," Chloe said, pursing her lips together.

"Which is why I'm driving you over there," Lois assured her.

"Thanks, Lo." She said sincerely, smiling softly at her cousin.

"Not a problem. That's what cousins are for, right?" She grinned. "Just promise me _one_ thing."

"Yeah?" She asked, "and I swear if you bring up condoms I'm never promising you anything again."

Lois chuckled at that. "No condoms involved. Just a few kisses that I can live through vicariously, all right?"

"I'm not planning anything else," Chloe told her, "I don't even know what this is and now I went missing for twenty-four hours on top of it."

She sighed, stopping her car in front of the clock tower. "Are you sure he's home?"

"Yeah, he said he was on his way here," she said, looking up toward the tower then back at Lois.

"All right." She bit her lip, then leaned over and hugged Chloe. "If I don't hear from you in the morning, I'll be calling."

"I'll have my phone on me," she promised, hugging Lois back, "let me know you made it back okay? Or you can stay in my room if you want to."

"Yeah, I think I'll do that actually. It's getting late." She yawned.

"Good," Chloe nodded, hugging her tighter, "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

Lois smirked. "Not if you're really _lucky_." She hugged her back then let her go, grinning.

Her eyes narrowed slightly then she shook her head, "goodnight, Lois." She told her, smiling before getting out of the car.

"Have fun, Cuz!" Lois called after her cheerfully, still grinning as she watched Chloe make her way into the building before driving off.

Chloe made her way into the elevator and upstairs as quickly as possible. She was incredibly anxious to see Oliver again, to find out if he had any information on what had happened to her, sure. But also to find out where they stood, if she could kiss him again, if he hadn't changed his mind about her.

Holding her breath, she pressed the password into the pad and watched as the elevator door opened. "Oliver?" She called, pushing the gate out of the way, heart beating fast against her chest all of the sudden.

He greeted her at the elevator a moment later, wrapping his arms around her wordlessly and shutting his eyes. "Are you all right?"

She held her breath and wrapped her arms around him instantly, "yeah," she breathed, "I'm okay."

Oliver held her close for a moment, then pulled away just enough to look at her, lifting a hand to her cheek. "You're sure?" He searched her eyes.

"Yeah," she said again, holding his gaze, "there wasn't anything wrong."

He exhaled, nodding a little and then leaning in and kissing her forehead. "There was no video footage," he told her quietly. "There was some kind of camera glitch."

"Oh," she frowned slightly but then was distracted by his lips against her skin, "set up?" She murmured, barely able to focus on the words.

He stilled at that. "By whom?" The one name that sprang to mind was one that he didn't want to think about in relation to Chloe--ever.

"I don't know," she breathed, staring at him still, "but it can't be coincidence."

Oliver swallowed hard, staring back at her, as well and falling silent, his heart beating a little faster.

She hesitated then tiptoed, leaning closer and brushing her lips against his.

He tugged her closer instantly, returning the kiss without hesitation.

Chloe relaxed a little when he returned the kiss and tightened her arms around him, her heart only slowed down for a second then picked up again as that intoxicating sensation that came with kissing him took over her once again and she realized that she had already been missing it.

He walked backwards toward the couch without breaking the kiss. It had only been two days since they'd last kissed, and he'd missed it already--missed _her_. Missed the sensation of having her in his arms.

Even though she walked with him, she had no idea what he was doing or where he was going, but she didn't care as long as she didn't have to pull away.

A second later, he picked her up without warning, holding onto her as he sat down on the sofa, pulling her onto his lap. Framing her face with his hands, he kissed her again.

She blinked when she found herself on his lap but kissed him back, wrapping her arms under his shoulders and holding on to him, at least it felt like he had missed her just as much.

Oliver smiled against her mouth, breaking the kiss in order to breath, his nose brushing against hers. "Wow." His voice sounded breathless.

"Yeah..." she breathed, smiling a little and relaxing as she leaned into him a little more.

He tucked some hair behind her ear, his eyes darker than usual as he gazed at her intently. "You are so beautiful," he murmured.

Chloe leaned into his touch and held her breath, "I'm sorry I worried you," she told him quietly.

Nodding a little, he didn't take his eyes off her. "I know you are," he whispered. "And we'll figure out what happened."

"We will," she said quietly then smiled and lifted her hand to touch his cheek.

Oliver smiled back at her faintly, relaxing against her touch. "Should we talk about this?" he murmured, turning his head and kissing her palm.

She shivered slightly as he kissed her palm then swallowed, nodding slightly, "yeah." She whispered.

He felt her shiver and turned his eyes to look at her once more, holding his breath for a moment. "I know you've been hurt pretty badly," he said softly.

Chloe blinked a couple of times then pursed her lips together, "I should have pulled myself away before it got to that point..." she paused then shook her head a little, "and anyway, it's in the past."

"Yeah?" Oliver reached up and took her hand in his, then rested them both against his heart.

"Yeah," she murmured, wrapping her fingers around his hand, "what I felt then," she murmured, "it was nothing like this..."

He smiled faintly at that, rubbing his thumb lightly over the back of her hand. "You caught my attention right from the start," he admitted softly. "There's just something about you."

"You mean when you picked me up from the street on Dark Thursday?" She asked curiously, watching him closely as she leaned in a little, her nose touching his.

"Well, mostly then it was about making sure you were safe. But after. When I actually got to talk to you."

"It would be cooler if you had said yes, you know?" She teased.

He chuckled, shaking his head a little. "Fine, yes. When I picked you up off the street."

She grinned a little at that then shook her head, "now you're making me sound like Julia Roberts on Pretty Woman."

Oliver tickled her in the sides lightly. "You're far too hard to please," he joked.

She squirmed and grinned more, "at least you're already aware of that."

"I guess you'll be keeping me on my toes then," he teased, leaning in and kissing her softly.

Chloe wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, smiling softly against his lips.

After several long moments of increasingly passionate kisses, he shifted her slowly so she was lying down on the sofa, his mouth trailing hot kisses down her neck.

She shivered, sliding her hand up his back and her fingers through his hair. They were still fully clothed and he hadn't done more than touch her back and arms but she already felt like she didn't want to stop anything.

"Tell me if you feel uncomfortable," he murmured against her skin, kissing his way down to her collarbone.

"I will," she murmured, sliding her hands down his back and pulling him closer. Definitely not uncomfortable.

Oliver smiled against her collarbone, then pressed a kiss right beneath it, closing his eyes.

"Ow!" Chloe stilled, surprised at the sudden surge of pain she felt in the area he'd kissed, turning her head and looking down at him.

He quickly raised his head to look at her, his eyes wide. "Chloe--?"

She blinked and shook her head a little, touching the spot he'd kissed and wincing, "it's... really tender. Sore."

"Let me see," he murmured, carefully moving her shirt aside just a little and holding his breath. "There's a mark. It's a little red and swollen."

Chloe cocked her head, trying to see but shaking her head when she wasn't able to, "like something stung me or something?"

Oliver held his breath for a moment, staring at the spot. "No, not like that," he whispered. "Sit up." He moved so he was sitting beside her, his eyes wide.

Her face grew serious at his expression, "like what?" She pressed, staring up at him.

"I've seen marks like this before, Chloe. From people we've rescued from Lex's 33.1 facilities." His heart was beating quickly in his chest.

" _What_?" She gasped, sitting up fully and staring at him with wide eyes, suddenly frightened. "What is it?"

"A GPS chip," he told her quietly, reaching out and resting his hands on her shoulders.

Chloe instantly pulled away from him and stood up, "why would he be interested in _me_?" She gasped, her voice wavering a little. Unfortunately for her, her brain tended to work too fast to allow her the comfort of denial and she knew the answer even before she was done voicing the question.

Oliver rose to his feet, as well, meeting her eyes. "Breathe, Chloe," he whispered, knowing immediately what she was thinking. "We don't know _anything_ for certain."

"Then we need to find out," she said tightly through clenched teeth, " _now_."

"We will."


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver had told Chloe some more about how one of Lex's projects involved capturing meteor infected people, testing on them, then micro-chipping them and sending them back home and just bringing them back in whenever necessary or watching their development from a safe distance. He didn't know details, but Chloe was getting more and more nervous the more he spoke.

She couldn't make sense of why Lex would want anything to do with _her_ , as far as she knew, she had no powers and there had never been any indication that she _was_ meteor infected so now they were both in different stations, trying to hack into Lex's files to see if they could find anything on her. She hadn't let him call Victor and ask him to do it. Not yet. She knew it would be a lot faster, but if she _was_ a freak, she wouldn't want people to know right away. Not until she figured out what was going on.

He glanced at her sideways as they worked, worry on his face. He could practically feel the tension and fear she was carrying, and he wanted nothing more than to help get rid of it for her. He drew in a breath and focused intently on his computer once more, his jaw set. If Lex Luthor really _had_ had Chloe in one of his facilities, the man was going to regret it in more ways than he could even begin to count.

Although she could feel his eyes on her, she was trying not to look at him, her heart was beating fast against her chest as she researched, her eyes moving fast over the screen between clicks, and then she stilled completely, "I think I found something," she breathed, eyes widening even more.

He moved without hesitation, positioning himself at her side and staring at the blinking red dots on a map of Smallvillle.

Chloe swallowed hard and stared at the dots for a moment, "those seem to be all people he's tracking," she muttered, zooming out on the map and watching as more dots appeared on the screen, most of them on Smallville and surrounding areas.

He held his breath for a moment, then rested a hand on her shoulder lightly, blinking when one of the dots suddenly became a red X instead. And then another.

She blinked a couple of times and shook her head, "what do you think happened?" She asked quietly, her stomach turning.

"I have no idea," he murmured, watching as another one turned to a red x.

Holding her breath, she zoomed in on the red X's and pulled up the satellite image, eyes widening as she saw two men, all dressed in black, pulling out a third from within a house, and the third man seemed lifeless, "he's killing them," she gasped.

Oliver stiffened at that. "Call Clark," he told her, reaching out and pulling her to her feet, tugging her toward his secret room.

"No!" She said, pulling her arm from his grip, her eyes already wide with fear, "get it out of me."

His eyes widened at that. " _What?_ "

"Get it out!" She pressed, panicking, "use one of your arrows or something, just get rid of it!"

"You want me to _cut_ it out of you?" His heart began to pound in his chest.

"Yes." She said firmly, "or I'll do it myself."

Oliver held his breath. "Master bathroom," he said, his expression tense.

Nodding, she held her breath then started down the hall, she wanted it over with.

He followed her a moment later, guiding her to sit down on the closed toilet seat even as he pulled out his first aid kit, as well as his Swiss army knife and a bottle of alcohol. "Take your shirt off," he said quietly, his jaw set.

She tugged her shirt up and off without hesitation, her eyes red with unshed tears as she stared up at him, "just get it over with."

His chest tightened at the fear in her eyes. He quickly disinfected the sharpest blade with alcohol then knelt in front of her. "This is gonna hurt," he warned softly, guilt around tugging at him. "Take a deep breath."

"Do it," she told him, holding her breath, setting her jaw and holding on tightly to the edges of the toilet to keep herself from moving.

He met her eyes for a brief moment, then held his breath as he pressed the tip of the knife into her skin just below where the mark was, blood bubbling up immediately at the puncture.

"Get it over with!" She told him, her shoulder and collarbone area already starting to burn as she did her best not to flinch away like she wanted to.

His jaw tightened and he worked as quickly as he could, grimacing and reaching for the tweezers from his first aid kit a moment later, focusing intently and pulling the small chip from her body. He stared at it for a moment. "Get up," he told her, and when she did, he quickly lifted the toilet seat, dropped the chip into the toilet and flushed it before rising to his feet.

She looked down at it, breathing quickly as she looked down at the toilet, tears running down her face, her body shaking but because of the adrenaline, she wasn't really feeling the pain or the fact that there was blood running down her chest.

Oliver swallowed hard, then closed the toilet lid once more, guiding her back to sit down again. "I'm so sorry," he whispered even as he swabbed the area with alcohol to clean it. He kept pressure on the area until the bleeding began to subside, his own eyes watery.

Chloe winced, closing her eyes and shaking her head a little as she swallowed a sob, "th-thank you."

He held his breath as he placed a gauze pad over the wound and carefully taped it on, his hands shaking a little.

Chloe opened her eyes and sniffed, glancing down at his hands, she could tell they were shaking even through her tears.

He let out a breath, moving to wash his hands, shutting his eyes as he scrubbed them clean of her blood.

She took a deep breath and pulled her shirt over her head, wincing as she moved her arm, then stood up, he looked almost as shaken as she felt, so she left the bathroom silently, figuring he needed some time and she wanted to make sure her dot was really gone.

Oliver splashed some cold water on his face, then headed out of the bathroom as well, carrying a bottle of extra strength Tylenol with him and returning to the computers, not surprised to see that her red dot had turned into an x instead. "Are you all right?" His voice was quiet and he held out the Tylenol bottle.

Chloe finally looked away from the computers and turned to face him, nodding, "I just emailed Clark a copy of the maps with the dots," she sniffed, "hopefully he can get to the others on time."

"Okay," he whispered, holding out a hand to her. "Come on."

With a deep breath, she slid her hand in his and looked up at him, "thank you," she said again, "for helping me." Her chest clenched as she remembered the look on his face and she knew he had done it against his will.

"I'm just sorry it hurt you," he said quietly, gently tugging her to her feet.

She stepped closer to him and shook her head, "it's not your fault, and if you hadn't helped me, it might have been too late."

He lifted his hand to her cheek, shaking his head a little, as well. Then he kissed her softly on the mouth.

Chloe kissed him back, stepping closer to him and wrapping her free hand around his shirt.

There was a desperation to the kiss, an urgency that hadn't been there before and he slid an arm around her waist as he responded in kind, his hand threading through her blond hair.

She shifted closer to him, her heartbeat picking up speed once more as she pressed against him, the fear she felt earlier not fully gone yet, but was slowly being replaced by relief. Relief that they wouldn't be coming after her, relief that this had happened and that he knew about all of it and he still didn't want to be away from her, that she hadn't scared him off.

"Come on," he whispered, kissing her once more, then resting his forehead against hers. "You need to take something for the pain."

"Okay," she said quietly, keeping an arm wrapped tightly around him.

Oliver led her into the kitchen area, setting the bottle of Tylenol on the counter. "Let me grab you some water."

"Are you going on patrol?" She murmured, watching him. Now that that was over, she just felt incredibly exhausted, but if he was leaving, she planned on driving back to the dorm so at least, she wouldn't be on her own.

"No," he said immediately, shaking his head and turning to look at her, his chest tightening. "No, I'm not going tonight." He ran some cold water into a glass and held it out to her.

She took a couple of the tylenols then sipped on the water he offered before looking down at her glass, "is it okay if I stay?"

His expression softened. "Of course," he whispered, reaching out and touching her cheek once more. "I was hoping you would."

Chloe held her breath and looked up at him again, leaning into his touch, "thank you," she murmured.

He kissed her forehead gently, then reached out and took the glass from her, setting it on the counter. "Come on. Let's try and get some rest."

"Okay," she murmured, reaching for his hand before looking at him once more.

Oliver slid his fingers through hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze before leading her down the hallway toward the back rooms. He paused and turned to look at her. "Where will you be most comfortable?' he asked quietly.

She paused, blinking a couple of times. She hadn't even considered staying in the guest room, and she had no idea why she wouldn't have since that was where she'd stayed the last time, "would... would it be okay with you if I stayed with you?" She was still freaked out and she didn't want to be on her own in case Lex came after her again.

"Absolutely," he said without hesitation, a small smile touching his mouth. "I just didn't want to assume. And I don't...I don't expect anything, just so we're clear, okay?" He lifted his hand to her cheek, gently moving his thumb over her skin.

"I know," she breathed, shaking her head, "I just don't want to be on my own," she admitted quietly. "In case he comes after me..."

Oliver sucked in a breath. "If he comes after you _here_ , he's going to be incredibly sorry." His voice took on an edge that hadn't been there before.

Chloe swallowed at his tone then stared at him, "do you think..." she paused and looked down, "do you think he found something?" Holding her breath she looked at him again, "what if I am a meteor freak, Oliver?"

His chest tightened at the expression on her face. "Not a freak," he whispered, shaking his head and stepping closer to her. "And if you are infected, we'll deal with it. I mean, look at the team. Vic, AC, Bart. Even Clark. They all have powers."

"Theirs didn't come from meteor infection," she told him, her voice just below a whisper as she watched him, "I've never met a single meteor freak who didn't lose it one way or another. They're not the good guys, Oliver. They are the people you stop."

He gazed at her intently. "Maybe they just didn't have the right people to help them stay grounded," he whispered back.

She held his gaze then let out a deep, shaky breath, looking down.

"There's a lot we don't know, Chloe," he said very softly. "And I know you're scared, but I promise you that we'll find the answers, together." He paused for a moment. "You're _not_ alone."

Chloe finally looked at him once more then took a deep breath, nodding slightly as she held his gaze.

"Your own personal superhero, remember?" he whispered, offering her a small smile. _That failed to protect you already._

The hint of a smile actually appeared on her lips at that and she nodded a little, holding his gaze.

Oliver dipped his head and kissed her once more, a quick, gentle kiss before he tugged her into his bedroom and shut the door behind them, flipping the light on. "So, this is my room," he told her with a smile. "Do you want something to sleep in, or are you okay in what you've got on?" he asked, glancing toward his closet.

"Maybe a pair of more comfortable pants?" She asked, arching her eyebrows a little as she looked around the room then back at him, "it's nice in here," she murmured. She didn't know if it was the fact that the room had a much more welcoming feeling than the rest of the clocktower, but she felt... safe in there. Or maybe it was just because he was there with her.

"Yeah, I think I've got something...but they'll be larger than what you're used to," he told her with a soft smile, heading over to his dresser and pulling out a pair of black sweatpants.

"That works," she said, taking the pants, "thank you," she said quietly then motioned toward the bathroom, "I'll go get ready for bed."

"All right." He moved closer and kissed the top of her head.

Chloe looked at him for a full moment, leaning in and kissing him softly before taking a step back and getting into the bathroom.

Oliver watched her go, then rubbed his hands over his face, shrugging out of the jacket he was wearing and draping it over a chair before changing into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Then he moved over to the bed and pulled the covers back, fluffing up the pillows a little.

She came back a moment later after washing her face and changing, her face softening when she saw him adjusting the pillows. Her collarbone was incredibly sore still but the meds were already kicking in and were subduing the pain, helping her relax. "Which side do you prefer?" She asked quietly.

He smiled softly. "I'm good either side. You can choose," he told her.

Chloe looked at him for a moment then shrugged a little, walking to the right side of the bed, away from the door.

"The place is alarmed," he said gently. "But I can lock the bedroom door, too. If that'll help."

"No, that's okay," she told him quietly, hesitating before getting on the bed, "I'm usually a light sleeper, I guess... he must have drugged me before I woke up."

Oliver's jaw tightened involuntarily. "Yeah, that would make sense why we had a hard time waking you up," he murmured.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little and laid down against the pillows, "yeah..."

He crawled into bed beside her, tugging the covers up. "Do you prefer the room to be a little chilly or warmer at night?" he asked softly.

"Whatever you're used to," she told him quietly, turning to face him. She had never slept with a guy like this before, not unless she counted the time she fell asleep on him on the couch.

"I'm adaptable," he assured her. "Is this temperature comfortable?" He laid down on his side, facing her, as well.

"I don't usually pay attention to it," she admitted then nodded, "but yeah, it's okay right now."

"Okay." He laid his head on the pillow, gazing at her. "If you get cold or hot, don't hesitate to wake me and I'll reset the thermostat. I want you to be comfortable."

"I'll be okay, thank you," she said quietly, holding his gaze.

Oliver nodded, searching her eyes. "It's gonna be okay."

Nodding slightly, she reached for his hand, wrapping both of hers around it and pulling it closer to her. She wasn't so sure, not when she knew her mom was in a mental institution and she didn't know if she was going to end up in one too. But she didn't want to think about that, not now.

"Get some rest. You're safe here," he whispered, shifting closer and kissing her forehead.

"Thank you for staying with me," she murmured, closing her eyes.

"I _want_ to be here," he told her quietly.

She opened her eyes and stared at him for a moment, nodding a little, "so do I. Even if... nothing had happened."

He smiled softly. "Ditto," he assured her, kissing the back of her hand and meeting her eyes once more.

Choe smiled a little back at him then shifted closer and brushed her nose against his, holding his gaze. She felt incredibly comfortable with him, even now that they were in his bed together and things could potentially get awkward.

Oliver kissed her gently on the mouth.

She kissed him back, relaxing a little and brushing her fingers over his hand.

"Rest," he whispered, kissing her nose a moment later.

With a deep breath, she kept her eyes closed and nodded slightly, relaxing as she hugged his hand to her chest and curled up a little more as she fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

He woke the next morning to the distant sound of a phone ringing. His eyebrows furrowed a little, not recognizing the ringtone. His right arm was draped protectively around Chloe's waist, his face buried against the back of her neck, his body curled around hers, their legs intertwined beneath the blankets on his bed. 

She felt groggy and out of it, but also very warm and comfortable as the phone pulled her out of her sleep. She had no idea where she was until she felt the numb soreness on her collarbone and Oliver's arm wrapped around her. Blinking her eyes open, she glanced at Oliver over her shoulder then around the room, searching for her phone.

"Nightstand," he murmured, having already spotted where she'd placed it the night before.

Chloe looked over at it and nodded, reaching for the phone and pulling it to her ear, "hello?" She answered thickly.

"Chloe?" Clark's voice was filled with worry.

"Clark?" She frowned, laying back down, "what's wrong?"

Oliver's arm wound around her once more, but he propped himself up on his elbow, gazing down at her with worried eyes.

"You were right. Lex was having them killed." He held his breath for a moment. "I got the others to safety, and the chips have been removed. But how did you know that was going on?"

Chloe let out a deep breath and closed her eyes, "it's a long story," she told him quietly, "but Oliver and I stumbled upon it when we were researching last night. I'm glad you got to them on time."

"So am I," he responded, pausing for a moment. "Why don't we grab some coffee? I'll meet you at your dorm room."

Pursing her lips together, she turned her face into the pillow a little then shrugged, "I'm not at the dorm, Lois must still be there, though."

Oliver raised an eyebrow, then pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Oh. Well, where are you?"

She stilled and glanced at Oliver then went back to looking at the wall, "at the Clocktower." She hadn't even had time to tell Clark she and Oliver were... dating? Or whatever this was. But she didn't feel like lying to him about that.

"With Oliver?" He sounded confused.

Chloe sighed softly and rolled her eyes, "yeah, with Oliver." She knew he was probably going to think she had slept with him, but she didn't really care. They were best friends, right? She should be able to tell him that like he had never had a problem telling her how much he loved Lana.

There was a long moment of silence. Then, "Oh."

Pursing her lips together, she let the silent linger for a moment before speaking again, "I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah. Uh--just call...you know. Whenever." He sounded distinctly uncomfortable.

"Let me know if you find anything else about Lex's project," she told him.

"Will do," he promised, hanging up a moment later.

Chloe hung up the phone too and let out a deep breath, she was awake now, but she was still tired.

"How are you feeling?" Oliver asked quietly.

"Okay," she told him quietly, looking at him over her shoulder, "how are you?"

"I'm all right," he assured her, meeting her eyes.

Chloe shifted slightly so she could look at him better, only now realizing how close to her he'd been and how tangled their legs were but she didn't pull away, "he said he stopped the guys last night, removed the chips from everyone on the map and took them to safety."

"Good," he said quietly, his gaze automatically dropping to her collarbone as he swallowed hard. "We should get you to an actual doctor."

She made a face and looked down at the cut, unable to see it even as she pulled on her shirt, "you think it looks bad?"

"I don't know," he said quietly. "At least not without removing the bandage."

Biting down on her bottom lip, she reached for the bandage and slowly started to pull it off, then paused, "I guess I should do this in the bathroom." The last thing she wanted was to get blood all over his silk sheets.

Oliver stilled her with a hand to her stomach. "You're fine," he whispered.

Chloe looked up at him, holding his gaze for a moment before peeling the bandage halfway, "can you see it?"

He shifted his gaze once more, nodding a little. "It's going to scar," he said quietly, glancing back up at her.

"It doesn't matter," she murmured, keeping her eyes on his face, "does it look clean?"

"It looks clean, but...we should probably clean it again to be on the safe side."

She nodded slightly and pulled the bandage back over the cut carefully and nodded, "but I should be okay without a doctor, right?"

"You're not a fan of them," he surmised with a small smile.

"I'm not a fan of being stuck in hospitals," she admitted then took a deep breath, "besides, I don't want anyone to think this is domestic violence or something because I can't tell them the truth and I don't think they will believe me if I tell them I slipped and fell on a knife." She said, arching her eyebrows.

Oliver grimaced at that. "Right," he whispered, nodding a little. He laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. "You know what we need?"

Chloe arched her eyebrows and tried for a smile, she was still very much freaked out that Lex had in fact kidnapped her, but she had had a good night sleep and being around Oliver was comforting and calming, "what?" She asked quietly.

"A doctor for the team," he said, looking over at her. "Someone we can go to if any of us gets hurt. Someone trustworthy." He gazed at her intently.

"Do you think there is someone who doesn't lead this kind of life that you could pay enough that would keep this quiet?" She asked, frowning slightly. It was a good idea, in theory...

He blew out a breath. "I don't know," he admitted, reaching out and resting a hand against her cheek.

"I guess we'll have to look into it," she murmured, leaning into his hand.

Oliver gently moved his thumb over her skin, then leaned in and kissed her softly on the mouth. "He's not going to get by with this, Chloe," he whispered a moment later.

She blew out a breath and rested her forehead against his, nodding slightly, "I know. But there is so much to figure out..."

Tucking some hair behind her ear, he nodded as well. "And we'll figure it out. _Together_."

"Together," she agreed, her heart speeding up a little. She just hoped he wouldn't change his mind about this if it turned out she _was_ meteor infected.

He smiled softly at that. "I know you don't normally eat breakfast, but are you hungry? I could make pancakes or something."

"Yeah, actually," she said quietly, "I... don't know when it was the last time I ate."

Oliver kissed her forehead tenderly. "Do pancakes sound good? Or would you rather have eggs or something? Or I could do a whole breakfast spread."

"Pancakes will be great," she said, brushing her lips against his, "just toast would be fine..."

"No girlfriend of mine is eating just toast for breakfast when she spends the night with me," he said without thinking about it, kissing her softly.

Chloe stilled at that, her eyes flying open, her cheek getting hot instantly, "your girlfriend?" She murmured.

Oliver pulled away a little to look at her, cocking his head. "Did I assume too much?" he asked uncertainly.

She swallowed hard and shook her head a little, searching his eyes, "no, I just... didn't know." Her heart was racing once again, she should probably get used to that feeling.

He held his breath for a moment, searching her eyes, as well. "Is it okay?"

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip, she'd never been anyone's girlfriend before, but she found herself nodding before she could really process what this was.

He smiled brightly at that. "All right. You can lay in bed if you want. I'll bring the food back when I'm done."

She shook her head slightly then smiled softly, "I'll come help you," she told him, leaning in and kissing him once more. Kissing her _boyfriend_. Oliver Queen was her boyfriend. And a superhero. And he actually wanted her around despite all of the weird things that happened in her life and he _knew_ about all of them too.

"Okay." He kissed her once more, then slid out of bed, holding his hands out to her to help her up, as well.

Chloe smiled up at him and took his hand in her left one so it wouldn't pull on the cut as she got up on her knees then off the bed through his side.

Oliver smiled back at her, then laced his fingers through hers and led her out of the room and down the hallway toward the kitchen.

"Do you usually make breakfast?" She asked quietly, squeezing his hand slightly

"Sometimes, if the guys are here," he told her, turning to face her. "But they usually just get omelettes." He winked at her.

"Pancakes win over omelettes every time," she told him quietly, keeping her eyes on him.

"And they're reserved for only the most special. That would be you." He slid his arms around her waist, lifting her up and setting her down on the counter.

She blinked and looked at the counter then back at him, her arms around his neck, "I won't tell anyone," she promised, "I don't want anymore competition than I will already have."

Oliver cocked his head to the side, watching her intently. " _You_ don't need to worry about competition," he informed her, his hands resting on her knees.

Chloe cocked her head to the opposite side and watched him, smiling softly, and leaning closer, "there's a lot about me you still don't know, are you sure?"

He gazed at her. "I am," he said, nodding a little. He paused for a moment. "But there's stuff about me that you still don't know, too." His voice grew quiet.

She lifted a hand to his hair, brushing her fingers through it, "I guess we need to start working on that."

He nodded his agreement, offering her a soft smile. "I think we've got the biggest things down already, at least."

"Yeah," she smiled a little and arched her eyebrows, "unless you have a bigger secret than your green leather fetish."

He chuckled at her words. "No, can't say that I do," he promised, leaning in and kissing the corner of her mouth.

Chloe turned her mouth and kissed him full on the lips, pulling him closer to her.

He went willingly, nibbling her lower lip lightly as one hand lifted up to wind through her blond hair.

She lowered one of her hands over his back, relaxing her lips for him and barely resisting the urge to wrap her legs around him too. Oliver slowly trailed kisses down her jaw and to her neck, nibbling lightly on her skin before soothing it with his tongue.

Chloe shivered at that and lifted her head, but this time, she didn't hold back, she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him even closer to her.

He groaned softly, sliding his other hand down her spine to rest against the small of her back. "So beautiful," he murmured.

She smiled slightly and sliding further toward the edge of the counter so her body was touching his as much as possible.

Which of course, was when the elevator door opened in the other room.

"Ollie?" AC called from the other room.

Oliver groaned again, this time from annoyance, dropping his head a little.

Chloe stilled and blinked a couple of times, staring at Oliver then looking over her shoulder, trying to get down from the counter but considering he was completely pressed against her...

He drew in a breath and pulled away, looking up at her apologetically. "What's up?" he called, backing away from her and heading into the other room.

She got down from the counter and took a deep breath, crossing her arms over her chest and starting after him, smiling a little at AC, "hey."

"Oh. Hey, Chloe," AC said with a bit of surprise.

With a glance at Oliver, she smiled a little then looked back at AC, she didn't know if they were telling the boys or not, but she wasn't going to put Oliver on the spot or anything.

"Hey," he said again, raising his eyebrows a little, then looking at Oliver.

Oliver drew in a breath and glanced between his girlfriend and his friend. "So, what's up?"

"Right. We found a body," he admitted. "Shot. In the head. Execution style."

Chloe's eyes widened at that and glanced at Oliver, stepping forward, "where? Do you know who it was?"

"I don't know," he told them, shaking his head.

"Where exactly?"

"Metropolis. A few blocks from here." He frowned.

She pursed her lips together and looked at Oliver then at AC, "did the cops get there already?"

"Yeah." AC let out a breath. "But we've already been checking into it. Sounds like a couple of guys dressed all in black were the culprits."

Chloe stilled at that and looked over at Oliver, her eyes widening.

His eyes were wide as well, and he held his breath for a moment. "Do you have anything else?" he asked, his jaw tightening.

"From what we heard the cops saying, it happened last night."

She pursed her lips together and walked over to the computers, starting to type.

"What's going on?" AC questioned, looking between them worriedly.

Oliver moved over to stand beside her, resting a hand on her back.

"We heard about the murders last night," Chloe said, glancing over at Oliver then back at the computer, "there were a couple in Smallville too."

He frowned a little. "No one called to have us look into anything," he said, his eyebrows furrowing.

Oliver drew in a breath, looking at Chloe, then over at AC. "They were going after people with abilities," he said, his voice quiet. "We didn't want to make any of you a target. We need to figure out exactly what's going on."

"And Clark was on it anyway," she told AC, without taking her eyes off of the screen, "the guys got rid of the first two bodies, I'm guessing he stopped them before they could get rid of this one."

"Everyone else was taken to safety," Oliver assured the other man.

AC relaxed a little. "Okay, that's good." He watched them for a moment.

With a deep breath, Chloe pulled up the police scanner that was closest to location and listened, "hopefully that will tell us more."

Oliver watched her with concerned eyes, his hand coming to rest at the small of her back once more.

AC hadn't noticed Oliver's hand until now, when he did, however, he cocked her head and arched his eyebrows curiously.

"This is it," Chloe said, listening intensely as the voice came over the scanner, talking about how the body had been found and the murder was connected to the two men that had been taking into custody in the early hours of that same morning.

He drew in a breath, nodding a little. "Definitely all connected," Oliver said when the report was over.

"At least we can be sure they're in jail." Chloe breathed, leaning slightly against Oliver unconsciously.

"Yeah, but why were they killing those people and hiding the bodies?" AC asked.

"Because those people had abilities, AC," Oliver told the other man, winding his arm around Chloe.

"My best guess is that they wanted to experiment on them," she muttered, swallowing hard and looking down.

Oliver's jaw tightened. Or already had and wanted to cover up the evidence, but he didn't dare voice _that_ out loud.

"Lex?" AC asked, eyes wide.

With a deep breath, Chloe finally turned to look at him again and nodded.

"That's what we assume," Oliver voiced.

"We need to keep an eye out for him, but I'm guessing after this, he'll lay low for a while," she told AC then glanced at Oliver.

Which would be the perfect opportunity for them to take him down, he thought, glancing at Chloe from the corner of his eye, then at AC. "Let the guys know we'll probably be needing them soon?"

"Yeah," AC nodded, looking at the two of them then starting to the elevator and pausing, "I'll also tell them to knock next time," he added, smirking a little.

Oliver smirked back at him. "Good idea," he responded, glancing at Chloe and grinning a little.

Chloe blushed and looked down, smiling a little before glancing at Oliver at the corner of her eyes.

He chuckled softly at her pink cheeks, watching as AC waved and vanished from sight as he stepped into the elevator. Then he turned to face her once more.

She pursed her lips together and watched at the elevator vanished from sight before looking at Oliver again, "so now _everyone_ thinks we're having sex."

He winced at that, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I just...I'm not ashamed that we're together, and I don't want to hide it from our friends."

"I don't care," she said sincerely, smiling up at him and reaching for his hand, "I was just pointing that out, it's a little ironic that even Clark thinks that and it's not true."

Oliver relaxed at that, sliding his fingers through hers once more. "Do I need to worry about him breaking every bone in my body?"

"Probably," she said, arching her eyebrows, "but that is easy to take care of, I'll just bring you a piece of meteor and you'll be fine."

"A piece of meteor?" His eyebrows furrowed a little. "Why?"

Chloe stilled at that and blinked, her stomach dropping all of the sudden as she stared at him, "what?" She had _never_ slipped like this before, what the hell was her problem?

He was silent for a moment. "If this is one of those things I'm not supposed to know, it's okay," he assured her quietly. "I won't say anything."

She had been about to lie, to tell him that the rock was to knock Clark over the head with or something equally stupid, but her heart skipped a beat at his words and she nodded a little. He understood, better than anyone apparently and he didn't want to question her further, put her in a tight spot because of her slip and that just made her admire him even more, if that was possible. "Thank you for understanding," she murmured, holding his gaze and squeezing his hand.

Normally, she would be freaking out about the fact that she pretty much told him about Clark's one weakness, but she trusted Oliver, she trusted him with his life so she knew he would never harm anyone intentionally.

"You're welcome." He stepped closer to her, kissing her forehead lightly. "Now how about those pancakes?"

She smiled and nodded slightly, lifting her free hand to his side, "maybe we can actually have them now."

Oliver grinned at that, nodding a little. "Come on."

~ That's where this ends, folks. Sorry for the abrupt ending. ~


End file.
